A week ago, Salon published a story I wrote about returning to a Creationist museum my parents took me to when I was very young. The article was not mean-spirited or contemptuous; it was mostly about an atheist looking back honestly and nonjudgmentally at his religious past and religious family. I was just trying to talk about Christianity without adopting the tone of offended arrogance that so many non-Christians use when they"re discussing fundamentalists.

Of course, plenty of other people were willing to be giant pricks. As soon as the piece was published, the comments section erupted in overwrought, hoity-toity, exasperating rhetoric, as people made fun of Creationists for being ignorant and blamed the people I mentioned in the articles for everything evil done in the name of Christianity.

Here are a few choice quotes:

"I hear Betty and Barney are especially lifelike in their display."

"It is certainly interesting that while George Bush claimed they hate us for our freedoms, large swathes of the US population are actually just as primitive in their thinking as the simplest tribesmen in the mountains of Afghanistan and are held there by a wealthy priesthood class who exploit their gullability."

"It's a dangerous thing to show respect to beliefs and ideas that don't deserve it. For example, Christianity. Christianity is not only responsible for the murder of millions of people over the centuries, it's responsible for children being killed by "faith-healing" today.""

Never mind that I wasn"t exposing Christianity or even endorsing it"if you say something as mild as "Hey, here are some Christians practicing their faith; that"s not really a bad thing" you"ll get mobbed by a group of pack atheists who are quickly becoming the most annoying demographic on the internet. I speak of a subtype of militant atheists who I"ll call the "Reddit Atheists." These are the folks who have, ironically, adopted the attitudes of hardcore evangelicals who try to convert strangers on subway platforms"it"s not enough for them that they don"t believe in God, they want to make sure you don"t believe in God either. Just by being themselves, they make the best case against humanism.

If you want to find out why I call these guys Reddit Atheists, take a brief dip into the atheism subreddit. It is a place entirely defined by bitter, faux-enlightened young people sharing "thought-provoking" images about the horrific evils of religion (in practice, pretty much just Christianity) and congratulating each other for being "enlightened." The site was originally intended to be a place where people talk about atheistic ideas, but as is Reddit"s depressing trend, it soon devolved into a swampy mess of endless, banal cliches, memes, and general anti-intellectualism. It actually rivals Creationism in terms of having a narrow worldview. They"ve actually had a campaign where they would write "once upon a time" on the first page of every Bible they found in hotels, which is probably the lamest form of vandalism ever.

Reddit Atheism isn"t about philosophy or even adult conversation; it"s about getting riled up into a frothing-at-the-mouth ideological stupor so you can feel guiltlessly self-righteous for the rest of the day. In all of my trips to r/atheism, I"ve never seen anyone post anything written in a measured tone."

A week ago, Salon published a story I wrote about returning to a Creationist museum my parents took me to when I was very young. The article was not mean-spirited or contemptuous; it was mostly about an atheist looking back honestly and nonjudgmentally at his religious past and religious family. I was just trying to talk about Christianity without adopting the tone of offended arrogance that so many non-Christians use when they"re discussing fundamentalists.

Of course, plenty of other people were willing to be giant pricks. As soon as the piece was published, the comments section erupted in overwrought, hoity-toity, exasperating rhetoric, as people made fun of Creationists for being ignorant and blamed the people I mentioned in the articles for everything evil done in the name of Christianity.

Here are a few choice quotes:

"I hear Betty and Barney are especially lifelike in their display."

"It is certainly interesting that while George Bush claimed they hate us for our freedoms, large swathes of the US population are actually just as primitive in their thinking as the simplest tribesmen in the mountains of Afghanistan and are held there by a wealthy priesthood class who exploit their gullability."

"It's a dangerous thing to show respect to beliefs and ideas that don't deserve it. For example, Christianity. Christianity is not only responsible for the murder of millions of people over the centuries, it's responsible for children being killed by "faith-healing" today.""

Never mind that I wasn"t exposing Christianity or even endorsing it"if you say something as mild as "Hey, here are some Christians practicing their faith; that"s not really a bad thing" you"ll get mobbed by a group of pack atheists who are quickly becoming the most annoying demographic on the internet. I speak of a subtype of militant atheists who I"ll call the "Reddit Atheists." These are the folks who have, ironically, adopted the attitudes of hardcore evangelicals who try to convert strangers on subway platforms"it"s not enough for them that they don"t believe in God, they want to make sure you don"t believe in God either. Just by being themselves, they make the best case against humanism.

If you want to find out why I call these guys Reddit Atheists, take a brief dip into the atheism subreddit. It is a place entirely defined by bitter, faux-enlightened young people sharing "thought-provoking" images about the horrific evils of religion (in practice, pretty much just Christianity) and congratulating each other for being "enlightened." The site was originally intended to be a place where people talk about atheistic ideas, but as is Reddit"s depressing trend, it soon devolved into a swampy mess of endless, banal cliches, memes, and general anti-intellectualism. It actually rivals Creationism in terms of having a narrow worldview. They"ve actually had a campaign where they would write "once upon a time" on the first page of every Bible they found in hotels, which is probably the lamest form of vandalism ever.

Reddit Atheism isn"t about philosophy or even adult conversation; it"s about getting riled up into a frothing-at-the-mouth ideological stupor so you can feel guiltlessly self-righteous for the rest of the day. In all of my trips to r/atheism, I"ve never seen anyone post anything written in a measured tone."

At 7/9/2016 9:10:55 PM, brontoraptor wrote:" It is a place entirely defined by bitter, faux-enlightened young people sharing "thought-provoking" images about the horrific evils of ..."

Atheism?Islam?

And a member who has no regard for critical thought, offers no quality insight on any topic, adds nothing to improving this site's tone, by his own admission is present only to troll, and will not say whether his faith has made him a worse troll or failed to correct the conceit and disrespect he already had before his conversion... is quoting an article about the poor tone on Reddit, why?

At 7/10/2016 8:31:58 PM, lwilington wrote:Clearly it's important to you for a message to be both true and stated in a way that doesn't offend.But for many people that isn't important.

The question I have is whether or not something is "more" true because it's said nicely? Is it more important people not be cunts about a topic or that they be right about it?

It's still true, but tone and attitude dictate whether people like or dislike that truth. If they dislike it enough, they will not accept it as the truth at all. It just becomes the opinion of a jackass.

"I would much rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question."

It's still true, but tone and attitude dictate whether people like or dislike that truth. If they dislike it enough, they will not accept it as the truth at all. It just becomes the opinion of a jackass.

The truth doesn't just become opinion. People may not accept it as true. They may dismiss it. But that is their own failing. All ideas should stand or fall on their own, not because some jackass that you dislike said it.And really, who is the bigger jackass? The one who speaks the truth in a rude manner or the one who dismisses it because the way it was said upset them?